Lock-and-key consumer billing data protection for telemarketing

ABSTRACT

A “lock-and-key” consumer billing data protection capability is provided to telemarketing systems which are based upon previously-acquired consumer lists. The lists contain only partial billing information for each consumer, which is insufficient to access the consumer&#39;s account. Thus, at the time a telemarketer employing this capability communicates with a consumer to offer them a product or service, the telemarketer, the seller and any entity hired to perform billing operations for such consumer purchases all remain “locked” out from accessing the consumer&#39;s account. When the consumer wishes to authorize the purchase of an offered product or service, the consumer must “reach into their wallet” to provide the “key” to their account, which is the missing billing information not acquired from the third-party list provider.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to computer systems, andmore particularly to computerized order entry systems that support andfacilitate consumer telemarketing operations.

RELATED ART

[0002] The practice of companies offering to sell goods or services toconsumers directly over the telephone, without requiring the consumer tovisit a traditional (“bricks and mortar”) store, is known astelemarketing. In today's business climate, telemarketing has becomeubiquitous. For example, in the United States, telemarketing currentlyaccounts for more than $1 trillion in annual sales. This representsapproximately 14% of American consumers' annual retail spending.

[0003] Historically, one of the primary problems with telemarketing wasthat telemarketers did not precisely target consumers who were likely tobuy their products or services. Rather, telemarketers routinely employed“cold calls” in an attempt to reach a broad range of consumers. These“cold calls” were attempted without regard for which consumers were mostlikely to be receptive to the particular products and/or services beingoffered by the telemarketers. That is, these “cold calls” employed nomarket intelligence (e.g., demographic data, etc.) in targetingconsumers who were to receive such calls. In fact, many telemarketersemployed computer-based systems that simply dialed telephone numbersrandomly.

[0004] Recently, however, telemarketers have recognized that consumersand the companies providing the goods and services which they market andsell would all benefit from targeted telemarketing. Accordingly,telemarketers have begun to target their efforts to those consumers whomost likely would be receptive to the specific products and/or servicesbeing offered. Specifically, a telemarketing company attempting to sella product or service of one of its clients may acquire from athird-party a list of consumers who recently purchased related productsor services. For example, a telemarketing company attempting to sellmemberships in a dial-in roadside assistance service program may acquirea recent consumer list from a third-party vendor of car telephones.

[0005] Even when a consumer agrees to purchase a product or serviceoffered by a telemarketing company, in order to access that consumer'saccount (i.e. bill that consumer), it is necessary to possess certain“billing information.” At a minimum, this billing information includesthe entire number, typically sixteen digits, of the consumer's credit ordebit card. The same billing information is required regardless ofwhether the entity accessing the consumer's account is the telemarketingcompany itself, the seller, or any other entity hired to perform thebilling operations.

[0006] There are two general approaches currently employed to acquirethis billing information necessary to access a consumer's account.

[0007] The first approach is to acquire all of a consumer's billinginformation from the third party that provided the consumer list beingused by the telemarketing company. Under this approach, a consumer'sbilling information is often acquired from the third-party list providerbefore the telemarketing company calls that consumer. Variations on thisapproach include acquiring a consumer's billing information only afterthe telemarketing company calls the consumer and verifies that theconsumer wants to purchase the offered product or service with the samecredit or debit card used for the prior purchase (commonly referred toas a “matchback”). Under the variations of this approach, however, allof the consumer's billing information is ultimately acquired from thethird-party list provider—consumers do not need to provide any billinginformation themselves.

[0008] The advantage of this approach is that it eliminates the need forconsumers to recite their credit or debit card number over thetelephone. This protects consumers from reciting billing informationsufficient to access their account to untrustworthy telephone salesagents employed by legitimate telemarketers and fraudulent personsposing as legitimate telemarketers. The disadvantage of this approach,however, is that consumers are not in control of their billinginformation. As long as a telemarketing company professes to haveinterpreted some response from a consumer as authorizing a purchase, theconsumer's account can be charged. This charge can take place even ifthe consumer was confused by the telemarketing script and simply said“yes” in response to a question (perhaps thinking it would make anaggressive telemarketer go away), but did not actually intend topurchase the offered product or service. Thus, even if a telemarketererroneously believes there has been authorization during a particulartelephone conversation, the telemarketer is able to bill the consumereasily and without hesitation.

[0009] The second approach is to acquire all of a consumer's billinginformation directly from the consumer. If a consumer wants to accept atelemarketing offer to purchase a product or service, that consumer mustthen recite their entire credit or debit card number to the sales agent.

[0010] The advantage of this approach is that consumers are in controlof their billing information. Without a consumer's credit or debit cardnumber, the telemarketer cannot bill consumers in those situations wherethey erroneously believe there has been authorization. The disadvantageof this approach, however, is that consumers must recite all of theirbilling information over the telephone. Consequently, consumers mayrecite billing information sufficient to access their account tountrustworthy sales agents employed by legitimate telemarketers and/orfraudulent persons posing as telemarketers. In addition, this approachproduces billing mistakes due to errors in the transmission andcommunication of the consumers' billing information to the sales agent.Finally, from the telemarketers' perspective, this approach is notdesirable because consumers are disinclined to recite their entirecredit or debit card number over the telephone.

[0011] Therefore, given the above, what is needed is a lock-and-keyconsumer billing data protection capability for telemarketing systemsthat combines some or all of the advantages of the above-describedapproaches, while eliminating or reducing some or all of theirrespective disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] The present lock-and-key consumer billing data protection systemprovides customer billing account security to telemarketing systems thatare based upon consumer lists which may be acquired from third-partycompanies.

[0013] The lock-and-key consumer billing data protection system, in oneembodiment, includes a telemarketing database that stores consumerrecords acquired from third-parties from whom such consumers havepreviously purchased goods or services. Each stored record includesconsumer identification information and partial billing information.Because there is only partial billing information (fewer than all of thealphanumeric characters needed to access a consumer's account) acquiredfrom the third party, the telemarketer, the seller, and companies hiredto perform billing operations are “locked” out of every consumer'saccount. Further, a telemarketing server allows the sales agentsemployed by the telemarketing company and utilizing the telemarketingsystem to only access the consumer identification information stored inthe consumer records. That is, the server bars their access to even thepartial billing information stored in the consumer record.

[0014] If a sales agent indicates to the telemarketing server that aconsumer wishes to purchase a product or service being offered, thetelemarketing server prompts the sales agent to ask the consumer for the“key” to the consumers account, which is the missing billing informationnot yet stored in the telemarketing database. Only after the consumergives the sales agent that “key” and the sales agent enters it into thetelemarketing system, can the consumer be charged. Specifically, nowthat all the consumer's billing information has been acquired—partlyfrom the third-party list provider and partly from the consumer—can theconsumer's account can be accessed by the telemarketer, the seller, oran entity hired to perform billing operations for such purchases.

[0015] One advantage of lock-and-key consumer billing data protection isthat consumers are in control of their billing information. Withoutreceiving the missing billing information (the “key”) from the consumer,no entity can bill the consumer based on an erroneous premise thatauthorization for a particular transaction was received during atelemarketing telephone conversation. Unlike the presently employedapproach of acquiring all of a consumer's billing information from athird party, the lock-and-key consumer billing data protection system“locks” companies out of a consumer's account until the consumer takesthe proactive step of reciting the missing billing information—the“key”—to a sales agent over the telephone. This advantage becomes evenmore important in light of the fact that many sales agents employed bytelemarketers receive a substantial amount of their compensation fromsales commissions. Lock-and-key consumer billing data protection combatsthis compensation scheme's incentive to maximize the amount of claimedsales in situations where a consumer's acceptance is ambiguous or evennon-existent.

[0016] Another advantage of lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection is that it eliminates the need for consumers to recite theirentire credit or debit card number over the telephone to possiblyuntrustworthy sales agents employed by legitimate telemarketers or tofraudulent persons posing as telemarketers. Although individual salesagents learn part of a consumer's billing information—the “key”—whichthey enter into the telemarketing system, they are never furnished withthe partial billing information already stored in the telemarketingdatabase. As a result, the sales agents also are “locked” out ofconsumers' accounts. In an alternate embodiment, the telemarketer andseller are also denied access to the partial billing information, andthus are also “locked” out of the consumer's account.

[0017] Yet another advantage of lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection is that its methodology adheres to the U.S. Federal TradeCommission's (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”) regulationsregarding consumer protection, even including the currently proposedamendments to the TSR. Under the lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection, this is accomplished by requiring consumers to proactively“reach into their wallets” and recite to a sales agent a portion oftheir credit or debit card number—the “key.”

[0018] Further features and advantages of the invention as well as thestructure and operation of various embodiments of lock-and-key consumerbilling data protection for telemarketing are described in detail belowwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0019] The features and advantages of the present lock-and-key consumerbilling data protection system will become more apparent from thedetailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with thedrawings in which like reference numbers indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most digit of areference number identifies the drawing in which the reference numberfirst appears.

[0020]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the architecture of alock-and-key consumer billing data protection system;

[0021]FIG. 2 is a flow chart depicting the operation of a lock-and-keyconsumer billing data protection system;

[0022]FIG. 3 is a diagram representing an information transfer flowwithin a lock-and-key consumer billing data protection system; and

[0023]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system usefulfor implementing the present lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] Overview

[0025] The present lock-and-key consumer billing data protection systemrelates to providing a “lock-and-key” consumer billing data protectioncapability to telemarketing systems. In an embodiment, a telemarketingentity (i.e., a telemarketer) selling particular good(s) and/orservice(s) acquires a list of consumers (e.g., from a third-partycompany). This list identifies consumers who have recently purchasedother products and/or services.

[0026] Such consumer lists transferred from the third-party contain onlypartial billing information (p alphanumeric characters of the m+palphanumeric character customer billing information) for each consumer.That is, the partial billing information comprises a predeterminedsubset of data from the consumer's billing data, and fails to includethe entirety of the billing data. One such example is a string ofconsecutive digits of the consumer's account number. Because completebilling information is needed to access a consumer's account, the systemof the present lock-and-key consumer billing data protection system“locks” out the telemarketer, the seller, and even an entity hired toperform billing operations for such purchases from accessing theconsumer's account.

[0027] When a consumer is called by a sales agent and takes a proactivestep to unambiguously order the offered product(s) and/or service(s),the lock-and-key consumer billing data protection system requires thatthe consumers provide only certain alphanumeric characters from theircharge, credit or debit cards—the “key”—in order to authorize thepurchase. The provided key is then received by the sales agent andentered into the system. This is done without allowing the sales agentaccess to the consumer's partial billing information previously storedin the telemarketing system. The telemarketer, seller or company hiredto perform billing operations, however, now has all of the consumer'sbilling information and, as a result, can access that consumers account.

[0028] Lock-and-key consumer billing data protection empowers consumerswith the ability to buy products and services over the telephone whilecontrolling access to their account and eliminating the need to reciteall of their billing information over the telephone. Thus, lock-and-keyconsumer billing data protection guards against consumers being billedfor products or services whose purchase they did not, nor intend to,authorize by requiring consumers to take the affirmative, proactive stepof communicating part of their billing information to a sales agent inorder to authorize a purchase. At the same time, lock-and-key consumerbilling data protection guards against untrustworthy sales agentsemployed by legitimate telemarketers and/or fraudulent persons posing aslegitimate telemarketers by denying these individuals access to all of aconsumer's billing information.

[0029] The present lock-and-key consumer billing data protection systemis described in terms of the above example. This is for convenience onlyand is not intended to limit the application of the present lock-and-keyconsumer billing data protection system. In fact, after reading thefollowing description, it will be apparent to one skilled in therelevant art(s) how to implement the lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection system in alternative embodiments (e.g., inboundtelemarketing upsells, other types of commerce, etc.). For example, thelock-and-key consumer billing data protection capability describedherein may be provided to an outbound telemarketing system in which asales agent may contact consumers on-line (i.e., on the Internet) viainstant messaging and the like, or where the sales agent is actually anautomated, computer Voice Response Unit (VRU) or an Interactive VoiceResponse (IVR) unit. Another variation is where the complete customerbilling information is provided to the telemarketer or the seller, orthe company hired to perform billing operations, but cannot be vieweduntil the key retrieved from the customer is input into thetelemarketing server and matched with the stored customer billinginformation.

[0030] Glossary

[0031] Below are definitions of terms used herein. In the event that aterm defined herein has a more common meaning or usage, the definitionprovided herein should be taken as the intended meaning.

[0032] “Acquirer” means a business organization, financial institution,or an agent of a business organization or financial institution that hasauthority from an organization that operates or licenses a credit cardsystem to authorize sellers to accept, transmit, or process payment bycredit card through the credit card system for money, goods or services,or anything else of value.

[0033] “Billing information” means the minimum data needed in order tocharge or otherwise gain access to a consumer's account, such as acredit card, checking, savings, share or similar account, utility bill,mortgage loan account or debit card. In most instances, such minimuminformation is a set of alphanumeric characters, such as the typicalsixteen-digit credit card account number.

[0034] “Credit card” means any debit, charge or credit card (whetherprivate label or bank issued), or plate, coupon book or other creditdevice existing for the purpose of obtaining money, property, labor, orservices on credit.

[0035] “Consumer” means any person who is or may be required to pay forgoods, services or a charitable contribution offered or solicitedthrough telemarketing.

[0036] “Consumer identification information” means the data used tocontact a consumer (e.g., name, telephone number, address, etc.).

[0037] “Outbound telephone call” means any telephone call to induce thepurchase of goods or services or to solicit a charitable contribution,when such telephone call is: initiated by a telemarketer; transferred toa telemarketer other than the original telemarketer; or involves asingle telemarketer soliciting on behalf of more than one seller orcharitable organization.

[0038] “Seller” means any person who incurs the obligation to a consumerto provide, or to have others provide, goods or services to the consumerin exchange for consideration from the consumers account.

[0039] “Telemarketer” means any person who, in connection withtelemarketing, initiates or receives telephone calls to or from aconsumer. Further, the terms “user,” “telemarketer,” “telemarketingcompany,” “entity,” and the plural form of these terms are usedinterchangeably throughout herein to refer to those who would access,use, and/or benefit from the lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection capability provided to telemarketing systems as describedherein.

[0040] “Telemarketing” means a plan, program or campaign which isconducted to induce the purchase of goods or services or a charitablecontribution, by use of one or more telephones.

[0041] Lock-and-Key System

[0042]FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates the architecture of alock-and-key consumer billing data protection system 100. FIG. 1highlights the connectivity among the various components of consumerbilling data protection system 100.

[0043] Consumer billing data protection system 100 includes a repositorydatabase 102. Database 102, in an embodiment, is a computer runningdatabase management server software with physical media which acts as acentral store for all information within consumer billing dataprotection system 100. That is, database 102 stores the consumer listsreceived by the telemarketing entity including the records containingconsumers' identification information, the partial (or complete) billinginformation and possibly any collected demographic information.

[0044] In an alternate embodiment, database 102 would only store recordscontaining consumers' contact and demographic information. That is, aseller engaging a telemarketer to perform telemarketing on its behalfwould retain the partial billing information (except for the name of thecredit card) for added consumer protection from possibly untrustworthytelemarketers.

[0045] Returning to FIG. 1, a telemarketing server 104 is the dataprocessor of consumer billing data protection system 100, and isconnected to database 102. Telemarketing server 104 allocates,distributes and provides certain data stored in database 102 to aplurality of workstations 106 (shown in FIG. 1 as workstations 106 a-106n) used by a plurality of sales agents employed by the telemarketer. Inan embodiment, telemarketing server 104 provides workstations 106 withgraphical user interface (GUI) “front-end” screens to present certaindata in the consumer records (one at a time) during the telemarketingprocess.

[0046] Each of the plurality of sales agents is also equipped with atelephone station set 107 (shown in FIG. 1 as 107 a-107 n) or theirassociated workstation 106 is capable of originating outgoing telephonecalls. Assuming for the purpose of the description herein that the salesagents are equipped with telephone station sets 107, a Private BrancheXchange (PBX) 109 functions to interconnect the telephone station sets107 via trunks with a Local Exchange System (LES) 103 k. Local ExchangeSystem 103 k is part of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)112. This allows the sales agents to originate calls to identifiedconsumers in a well-known fashion.

[0047] The consumers are typically equipped with one or more of: apersonal computer, hand held computing device, telephone station set orother subscriber communication device, collectively termed “subscriberterminal equipment” 111 herein (and shown in FIG. 1 as 111 a-111 n).Each consumer's subscriber terminal equipment 111 is generally served byPSTN 112 which consists of an inter-exchange carrier network (IXC) 113that interconnects a plurality of Local Exchange Systems 103 (shown inFIG. 1 as LES 103 a-103 n), such as Local Exchange System 103 k, eachserving a plurality of subscriber terminal equipments 111 under controlof an associated call processor. The physical connection that supportsthis communication connection is typically effected from each consumer'ssubscriber terminal equipment 111 through one of the Local ExchangeSystems 103 of PSTN 112 (as shown in FIG. 1).

[0048] Returning to telemarketing server 104, it also allows consumerbilling data protection system 100 to receive the consumer lists fromthird-party companies. That is, a plurality of servers 110 belonging tothird-party companies may be authorized to access consumer billing dataprotection system 100 via the public, global Internet 108. (FIG. 1,however, shows only one third-party server 110 for ease of explanationherein.) Such third-party servers would then transfer consumer recordsto consumer billing data protection system 100 for storage onto database102 under the control (i.e., authorization, scheduling, validation,etc.) of telemarketing server 102.

[0049] In an alternate embodiment, third-party servers 110 would accessconsumer billing data protection system 100 via a dial-in line over thePSTN 112, rather than the global Internet 108. In another alternateembodiment, components 102-106 of the consumer billing data protectionsystem 100 are connected and communicate via a wide or local areanetwork (WAN or LAN) running a secure communications protocol (e.g.,secure sockets layer (SSL)).

[0050] While one database (i.e., database 102) is shown in FIG. 1 forease of explanation herein, consumer billing data protection system 100may utilize one or more databases physically located on one or morecomputers, which may or may not be the same as telemarketing server 104.Further, in an alternate embodiment, database 102 may be mirrored forfault tolerance.

[0051] Lock-and-Key Process

[0052]FIG. 2 is a flow chart depicting the operation of the lock-and-keyconsumer billing data protection system 100. Billing data protectionprocess 200, which illustrates the order-entry functionality, consumersecurity and other advantages of consumer billing data protection system100, begins at step 202, with control passing immediately to step 204.

[0053] In step 204, a telemarketer receives, either directly orindirectly via a seller engaging the telemarketer, data comprising alist of consumers (in the form of database records) from a third-partycompany, which data is stored in telemarketing server 104. In anembodiment, such consumers would have previously purchased good(s)and/or service(s) related to those being currently offered by thetelemarketer. In an alternate embodiment, the list of consumers may becreated or acquired “in-house” by the telemarketer or seller (e.g., by aresearch department or an affiliated entity). In either event, thereceived consumer list typically contains only partial billinginformation (e.g., the name of the credit card and a portion of thecredit card number) for each consumer. Telemarketing server 104 receivessuch consumer records from a third-party company's server 110 over theInternet 108 or a dial-in line. In alternate embodiments, telemarketingserver 104 receives and loads such consumer records from removablestorage media. Telemarketing server 104 then stores the list in database102 and “locks” out the sales agents employed by the telemarketer from aportion of the consumer account information by not allowing access tothis partial billing information. The method of restricting access to aportion of a data record on a processor is well known and not describedin detail herein.

[0054] In an alternate embodiment, the received consumer list does notcontain any partial billing information, except for the name of thecredit card and/or expiration date. That is, a seller engaging thetelemarketer to perform telemarketing on its behalf may choose to retainthe partial billing information. While this does not allow thetelemarketer to perform certain functions (e.g., billing informationverification), it allows the seller to provide for added consumerprotection from possibly untrustworthy telemarketers.

[0055] In an alternate embodiment, the received consumer list containsall of the billing information (either encrypted or unencrypted). Thatis, a seller engaging the telemarketer to perform telemarketing on itsbehalf may choose to provide the billing information, with the billinginformation being inaccessible (e.g., encrypted) absent the provision ofthe key by the consumer. This allows the telemarketer to perform certainfunctions (e.g., billing information verification). In anotherembodiment, only an entity (e.g., acquirer) hired by the seller toperform billing would receive the consumer list containing all of thebilling information (either encrypted or unencrypted). That is, thebilling information would be inaccessible (e.g., encrypted) absent theprovision of the key by the consumer. In yet another embodiment, theseller would receive the consumer list containing all of the billinginformation (either encrypted or unencrypted). That is, the billinginformation would be inaccessible (e.g., encrypted) absent the provisionof the key by the consumer.

[0056] Returning to process 200, in step 206, a sales agent identifies aparticular consumer to call from the list received in step 204. Amongthe sales agents employed by the telemarketer, the identification andassignment of consumers from the list may be done by telemarketingserver 104 in several fashions, including: randomly, alphabetically,geographically or the like. During step 206, the sales agent is allowedaccess to and presented with the consumer's identification informationand possible demographic information on their workstation 106.Telemarketing server 104, however, assures that the sales agent does nothave access to the consumer's partial billing information stored withindatabase 102. In step 208, the sales agent utilizes telephone stationset 107 to place an outbound telephone call via PSTN 112 to a consumerusing subscriber terminal equipment 111. The sales agent typicallyperforms an assigned “sales script,” that is provided by the seller,once in communication with the customer.

[0057] In step 210, consumer billing data protection system 100(telemarketing server 104) determines whether the consumer desires topurchase the offered product(s) and/or service(s). This determination ismade by receiving an input (keystroke, mouse click, touch screen eventor the like) from the sales agent made on their workstation 106. If thedetermination of step 210 is negative, billing data protection process200 then ends as indicated by step 218. Billing data protection process200 may then be repeated for the next consumer from the received listassigned to that particular sales agent. Otherwise, if the determinationof step 210 is positive, the billing data protection process 200proceeds to step 212.

[0058] In step 212, the sales agent requests that the consumer provide(by voice, keypad entries, etc.) the “key”—the missing billinginformation which the seller needs in order to access the consumer'saccount and bill them for the purchased good(s) and/or service(s). In anembodiment of lock-and-key consumer billing data protection, the key ism alphanumeric characters of the m+p alphanumeric character billinginformation where consumer billing data protection system 100 haspreviously stored the p alphanumeric characters in step 204 intelemarketing server 104. In an alternate embodiment, the key is themissing m alphanumeric characters of the m+p alphanumeric charactercredit card billing information in addition to other data unique to theconsumer or the consumer's account (e.g., the ACS code commonly locatedon credit cards), but not part of the billing information needed toaccess consumers' account.

[0059] In step 214, the sales agent enters the key into consumer billingdata protection system 100 using their workstation 106. Thus, theconsumer always holds the key to their own account. Only if the consumerproactively locates their credit card and supplies the missing billinginformation to the sales agent will the seller have the “key” to accessthe consumer's locked account.

[0060] In step 216, after the missing billing information has beenentered into consumer billing data protection system 100 by the salesagent, the telemarketer and/or seller then performs its normal“back-end” processing to handle, ship—if applicable—and then bill theconsumer for the purchased good(s) and/or service(s). The performance ofstep 216 by consumer billing data protection system 100 (i.e.,telemarketing server 104) does not involve the telemarketer's salesagents ever having access to consumer's complete billing information onthe display provided by telemarketing server 104 to workstation 106.That is, the sales agent receives only the missing information (i.e.,the key) in step 212. Therefore, lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection guards against untrustworthy sales agents employed bylegitimate telemarketers and/or fraudulent persons posing as legitimatetelemarketers. Billing data protection process 200 then ends asindicated by step 218.

[0061] Lock-and-Key Information Transfer

[0062]FIG. 3 is a diagram representing an information transfer flow 300within the lock-and-key consumer billing data protection system 100.Information transfer flow 300 further highlights the consumer securityprovided during, say, process 200, of consumer billing data protectionsystem 100.

[0063] Information transfer flow 300 begins with a third-party company302 transferring a list of consumers to a seller 304. Included in theseconsumer records are only partial billing information (shown as “PBI” inFIG. 3) for each consumer. The seller 304 then transfers the list ofconsumers (and possibly the names of the credit cards), but not thepartial billing information, to a telemarketer 306 hired to initiateand/or receive telephone calls to or from the consumers in order toinduce the purchase of goods or services offered by the seller 304. Inturn, the telemarketer 306 apportions the list of consumers among itsseveral sales agents 308. This gives the sales agents 308 access to onlythe consumers' identification information and possible demographicinformation.

[0064] Next, a particular sales agent 308, for example, places anoutbound telephone call to a consumer 310. If, after hearing the salesscript, consumer 310 desires to purchase the offered product(s) and/orservice(s), sales agent 308 requests that consumer 310 provide the“key”—the missing billing information. Once the consumer proactivelyprovides to key to sales agent 308, this signals their acceptance of thesales script's offer. The key is then passed back to telemarketer 306and eventually to seller 304. Seller 304 now has the “key” necessary topass on to an acquirer 312. This allows the acquirer 312 to “unlock” theconsumer's account by now having access to the complete billinginformation in order to bill them for the purchased good(s) and/orservice(s).

[0065] Information flow 300, as presented above, does not involve salesagent 308 ever having access to the complete billing information ofconsumer 310. Therefore, the lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection guards against untrustworthy sales agents employed bylegitimate telemarketers and fraudulent persons posing as legitimatetelemarketers.

[0066] Seller 304 and telemarketer 306, in an alternate embodiment, maybe one and the same entity. In yet another embodiment, seller 304 andacquirer 312 may be one and the same entity. Seller 304 may transferboth the list and lock to telemarketer 306 to allow telemarketer 306 to,for example, provide billing information verification. In such anembodiment, telemarketer 306 would may still make the consumer's billinginformation inaccessible to sales agents 308 to guard againstuntrustworthy sales agents and fraudulent persons posing as legitimatetelemarketers. In such an embodiment, however, should telemarketer 306allow sales agents 308 to access the partial billing information, thisonly guards against fraudulent persons posing as legitimatetelemarketers, but not against untrustworthy sales agents.

[0067] It should be understood that information transfer flow 300, whichhighlights the functionality and other advantages of consumer billingdata protection system 100, is presented for example purposes only. Thepresent invention is sufficiently flexible and configurable such thatinformation may flow in ways other than that shown in FIG. 3.

[0068] Example Implementations

[0069] The present consumer billing data protection system 100, billingdata protection process 200, information transfer flow 300, or any partsthereof may be implemented using hardware, software or a combinationthereof and may be implemented in one or more computer systems or otherprocessing systems. In fact, in one embodiment, the lock-and-keyconsumer billing data protection system is directed toward one or morecomputer systems capable of carrying out the functionality describedherein. An example of a computer system 400 is shown in FIG. 4. Thecomputer system 400 includes one or more processors, such as processor404. The processor 404 is connected to a communication infrastructure406 (e.g., a communications bus, crossover bar, or network). Varioussoftware embodiments are described in terms of this exemplary computersystem.

[0070] Computer system 400 can include a display interface 402 thatforwards graphics, text, and other data from the communicationinfrastructure 406 (or from a frame buffer not shown) for display on thedisplay unit 430.

[0071] Computer system 400 also includes a main memory 408, preferablyrandom access memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory 410.The secondary memory 410 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 412and/or a removable storage drive 414, representing a floppy disk drive,a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, etc. The removable storagedrive 414 reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit 418 in awell known manner. Removable storage unit 418, represents a floppy disk,magnetic tape, optical disk, etc. which is read by and written to byremovable storage drive 414. As will be appreciated, the removablestorage unit 418 includes a computer usable storage medium having storedtherein computer software and/or data.

[0072] In alternative embodiments, secondary memory 410 may includeother similar means for allowing computer programs or other instructionsto be loaded into computer system 400. Such means may include, forexample, a removable storage unit 422 and an interface 420. Examples ofsuch may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such asthat found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as anEPROM, Flash ROM, EEPROM, Mask Programmed ROM or PROM) and associatedsocket, and other removable storage units 422 and interfaces 420 whichallow software and data to be transferred from the removable storageunit 422 to computer system 400.

[0073] Computer system 400 may also include a communications interface424. Communications interface 424 allows software and data to betransferred between computer system 400 and external devices. Examplesof communications interface 424 may include a modem, a network interface(such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a PCMCIA slot andcard, etc. Software and data transferred via communications interface424 are in the form of signals 428 which may be electronic,electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of being received bycommunications interface 424. These signals 428 are provided tocommunications interface 424 via a communications path (i.e., channel)426. This channel 426 carries signals 428 and may be implemented usingwire or cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular telephonelink, an RF link and other communications channels.

[0074] In this document, the terms “computer program medium” and“computer usable medium” are used to generally refer to media such asremovable storage drive 414, a hard disk installed in hard disk drive412, and signals 428. These computer program products are means forproviding software to computer system 400. The invention is directed tosuch computer program products.

[0075] Application programs (also called computer control logic) arestored in main memory 408 and/or secondary memory 410. Applicationprograms may also be received via communications interface 424. Suchapplication programs, when executed, enable the computer system 400 toperform the features of lock-and-key consumer billing data protection asdiscussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed,enable the processor 404 to perform the features of lock-and-keyconsumer billing data protection. Accordingly, such computer programsrepresent controllers of the computer system 400.

[0076] In an embodiment where the lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection system is implemented using software, the software may bestored in a computer program product and loaded into computer system 400using removable storage drive 414, hard drive 412 or communicationsinterface 424. The control logic (software), when executed by theprocessor 404, causes the processor 404 to perform the functions of theinvention as described herein.

[0077] In another embodiment, the lock-and-key consumer billing dataprotection system is implemented primarily in hardware using, forexample, hardware components such as application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), or permanent storage means which may be altered, suchas Flash ROM. Implementation of the hardware state machine so as toperform the functions described herein will be apparent to personsskilled in the relevant art(s).

[0078] Conclusion

[0079] While various embodiments of the present lock-and-key consumerbilling data protection system have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example, and notlimitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, thepresent lock-and-key consumer billing data protection system should notbe limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, butshould be defined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed:
 1. A method for providing a consumer billing dataprotection capability in a telemarketing system, comprising the stepsof: storing a plurality of consumer records, each of which includesconsumer identification information and partial billing information;allowing a sales agent, utilizing the telemarketing system, to accessonly said consumer identification information stored in one of saidplurality of consumer records; receiving a first input from said salesagent indicative that a consumer corresponding to said consumeridentification information, stored in said one of said plurality ofconsumer records, desires to purchase a product or service offered bysaid sales agent; receiving a second input from said sales agentindicative of a key, wherein said key completes said partial billinginformation stored in said one of said plurality of consumer records;and processing an order reflective of said first input and billing forsaid order using said partial billing information stored in said one ofsaid plurality of consumer records, and said key.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein said partial billing information stored in said one of saidplurality of consumer records is a plurality of digits of a credit cardaccount number belonging to said consumer.
 3. The method of claim 2wherein said key is the remaining digits of the entire said credit cardaccount number.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said key includes theACS code of a credit card.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein saidpartial billing information stored in each of said plurality of consumerrecords is a predetermined set of p digits of a credit card accountnumber.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said key is the remaining mdigits of said credit card account number, and wherein m+p is equal tothe total number of digits in said credit card account number.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said partial billing information stored ineach of said plurality of consumer records is a predetermined set of palphanumeric characters of the billing information of said consumer. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein said key is the remaining m alphanumericcharacters of the billing information of said consumer, and wherein m+pis equal to the total number of alphanumeric characters in the billinginformation of said consumer.
 9. A method for providing a consumerbilling data protection capability in a telemarketing system, comprisingthe steps of: storing a plurality of consumer records, each of whichincludes consumer identification information and partial billinginformation; allowing a sales agent, utilizing the telemarketing system,to access only said consumer identification information stored in one ofsaid plurality of consumer records; receiving a key, from said salesagent, indicative that a consumer corresponding to said consumeridentification information, stored in said one of said plurality ofconsumer records, desires to purchase a product or service offered bysaid sales agent, and wherein said key completes said partial billinginformation stored in said one of said plurality of consumer records;and processing an order for said product or service and billing for saidorder using said partial billing information stored in said one of saidplurality of consumer records, and said key.
 10. The method of claim 9wherein said key includes the ACS code of a credit card.
 11. The methodof claim 9, wherein said partial billing information stored in each ofsaid plurality of consumer records is a predetermined set of palphanumeric characters of the billing information of said consumer. 12.The method of claim 11, wherein said key is the remaining m alphanumericcharacters of the billing information of said consumer, and wherein m+pis equal to the total number of alphanumeric characters in the billinginformation of said consumer.
 13. A method for providing a consumerbilling data protection capability in a telemarketing system that storesa plurality of consumer records, each of which includes consumeridentification information and partial billing information, comprisingthe steps of: receiving a first input indicative that a consumercorresponding to the consumer identification information stored in oneof the plurality of consumer records, desires to purchase an offeredproduct or service; receiving a second input indicative of a key,wherein said key completes the partial billing information stored insaid one of the plurality of consumer records; and processing an orderreflective of said first input and billing for said order using thepartial billing information stored in said one of the plurality ofconsumer records, and said key.
 14. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising the step of allowing a sales agent utilizing thetelemarketing system to access only the consumer identificationinformation stored in said one of the plurality of consumer records. 15.The method of claim 13, wherein the partial billing information storedin said one of the plurality of consumer records is a plurality ofdigits of a credit card account number belonging to said consumer. 16.The method of claim 15 wherein said key is the remaining digits of theentire said credit card account number.
 17. The method of claim 13wherein said key includes the ACS code of a credit card.
 18. The methodof claim 13, wherein the partial billing information stored in each ofthe plurality of consumer records is a predetermined set of p digits ofa credit card account number.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein saidkey is the remaining m digits of said credit card account number, andwherein m+p is equal to the total number of digits in said credit cardaccount number.
 20. The method of claim 13, wherein the partial billinginformation stored in each of the plurality of consumer records is apredetermined set of p alphanumeric characters of the billinginformation of said consumer.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein saidkey is the remaining m alphanumeric characters of the billinginformation of said consumer, and wherein m+p is equal to the totalnumber of alphanumeric characters in the billing information of saidconsumer.
 22. A method for providing a consumer billing data protectioncapability in a telemarketing system that stores a plurality of consumerrecords, each of which includes consumer identification information andpartial billing information, comprising the steps of: receiving a key,indicative that a consumer corresponding to the consumer identificationinformation stored in one of the plurality of consumer records, desiresto purchase an offered product or service, and wherein said keycompletes the partial billing information stored in said one of theplurality of consumer records; and processing an order for said productor service and billing for said order using the partial billinginformation stored in said one of the plurality of consumer records, andsaid key.
 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step ofallowing a sales agent utilizing the telemarketing system to access onlythe consumer identification information stored in said one of theplurality of consumer records.
 24. The method of claim 22 wherein saidkey includes the ACS code of a credit card.
 25. The method of claim 22,wherein the partial billing information stored in each of the pluralityof consumer records is a predetermined set of p alphanumeric charactersof the billing information of said consumer.
 26. The method of claim 25,wherein said key is the remaining m alphanumeric characters of thebilling information of said consumer, and wherein m+p is equal to thetotal number of alphanumeric characters in the billing information ofsaid consumer.
 27. A method for providing a consumer billing dataprotection capability in a telemarketing system that stores a pluralityof consumer records, each of which includes consumer identificationinformation and billing information, comprising the steps of: receivinga first input indicative that a consumer corresponding to the consumeridentification information stored in one of the plurality of consumerrecords has accepted an offer to purchase a product or service;receiving a second input indicative of a key, wherein said keycorresponds to a portion of said billing information stored in said oneof the plurality of consumer records and reflects authorization by saidconsumer for the purchase; and executing an order reflective of saidfirst input and billing for said order using the billing information,stored in said one of the plurality of consumer records.
 28. The methodof claim 27, wherein the billing information stored in each of theplurality of consumer records is a predetermined set of m+p alphanumericcharacters that constitute the billing information of said consumer. 29.The method of claim 28, wherein said key is m alphanumeric characters ofthe m+p alphanumeric characters of the billing information of saidconsumer.
 30. The method of claim 27, wherein the billing informationstored in each of the plurality of consumer records is a predeterminedset of p alphanumeric characters that represent a portion of the m+palphanumeric characters of the billing information of said consumer. 31.The method of claim 30, wherein said key is the remaining m alphanumericcharacters of the billing information of said consumer, and wherein m+pis equal to the total number of alphanumeric characters in the billinginformation of said consumer.
 32. A method for providing a consumerbilling data protection capability in a telemarketing system that storesa plurality of consumer records, each of which includes consumeridentification information and billing information, comprising the stepsof: receiving a key, indicative that a consumer corresponding to theconsumer identification information stored in one of the plurality ofconsumer records has accepted an offer to purchase a product or service,and wherein said key corresponds to a portion of said billinginformation stored in said one of the plurality of consumer records andreflects authorization by said consumer for the purchase; and executingan order for said product or service and billing for said order usingthe billing information, stored in said one of the plurality of consumerrecords.
 33. The method of claim 32, wherein the billing informationstored in each of the plurality of consumer records is a predeterminedset of m+p alphanumeric characters that constitute the billinginformation of said consumer.
 34. The method of claim 33, wherein saidkey is m alphanumeric characters of the m+p alphanumeric characters ofthe billing information of said consumer.
 35. The method of claim 32,wherein the billing information stored in each of the plurality ofconsumer records is a predetermined set of p alphanumeric charactersthat represent a portion of the m+p alphanumeric characters of thebilling information of said consumer.
 36. The method of claim 35,wherein said key is the remaining m alphanumeric characters of thebilling information of said consumer, and wherein m+p is equal to thetotal number of alphanumeric characters in the billing information ofsaid consumer.
 37. A method for providing a consumer billing dataprotection capability in a telemarketing system, comprising the stepsof: storing a plurality of consumer records, each of which includesconsumer identification information; allowing a sales agent, utilizingthe telemarketing system, to access said consumer identificationinformation stored in one of said plurality of consumer records;receiving a first input from said sales agent indicative that a consumercorresponding to said consumer identification information, stored insaid one of said plurality of consumer records, desires to purchase aproduct or service offered by said sales agent; receiving a second inputfrom said sales agent indicative of a key that completespreviously-obtained, partial billing information; and processing anorder reflective of said first input and billing for said order usingsaid key.
 38. The method of claim 37, wherein said key is apredetermined set of p digits of a credit card account number belongingto said consumer, wherein said sales agent has no access to a remainingm digits of said credit card account number, and wherein m+p is equal tothe total number of digits in said credit card account number.
 39. Themethod of claim 37, wherein said key is a predetermined set of palphanumeric characters of the billing information of said consumer,wherein said sales agent has no access to a remaining m digits of thebilling information of said consumer, and wherein m+p is equal to thetotal number of alphanumeric characters in the billing information ofsaid consumer.
 40. A method for providing a consumer billing dataprotection capability in a telemarketing system, comprising the stepsof: storing a plurality of consumer records, each of which includesconsumer identification information; allowing a sales agent, utilizingthe telemarketing system, to access said consumer identificationinformation stored in one of said plurality of consumer records;receiving a key, from said sales agent, indicative that a consumercorresponding to said consumer identification information, stored insaid one of said plurality of consumer records, desires to purchase aproduct or service offered by said sales agent, and wherein said keycompletes previously-obtained, partial billing information; andprocessing an order reflective of said product or service and billingfor said order using said key.
 41. The method of claim 40, wherein saidkey is a predetermined set of p digits of a credit card account numberbelonging to said consumer, wherein said sales agent has no access to aremaining m digits of said credit card account number, and wherein m+pis equal to the total number of digits in said credit card accountnumber.
 42. The method of claim 40, wherein said key is a predeterminedset of p alpha-numeric characters of the billing information of saidconsumer, wherein said sales agent has no access to a remaining m digitsof the billing information of said consumer, and wherein m+p is equal tothe total number of alpha-numeric characters in the billing informationof said consumer.
 43. A method for providing a consumer billing dataprotection capability in a telemarketing system, comprising the stepsof: storing a plurality of consumer records, each of which includesconsumer identification information; allowing a sales agent, utilizingthe telemarketing system, to access said consumer identificationinformation stored in one of said plurality of consumer records;receiving a key, from said sales agent, indicative that a consumercorresponding to said consumer identification information, stored insaid one of said plurality of consumer records, desires to purchase aproduct or service offered by said sales agent, and wherein said keymatches a portion of previously-obtained, billing information; andprocessing an order reflective of said product or service and billingfor said order using said key.
 44. The method of claim 43, wherein saidkey is a predetermined set of p digits of a credit card account numberbelonging to said consumer, wherein said sales agent has no access to aremaining m digits of said credit card account number, and wherein m+pis equal to the total number of digits in said credit card accountnumber.
 45. The method of claim 43, wherein said key is a predeterminedset of p alpha-numeric characters of the billing information of saidconsumer, wherein said sales agent has no access to a remaining m digitsof the billing information of said consumer, and wherein m+p is equal tothe total number of alpha-numeric characters in the billing informationof said consumer.
 46. The method of claim 43, wherein thepreviously-obtained, billing information is encrypted, and wherein saidkey is used to decrypt the previously-obtained, billing information. 47.A telemarketing system having consumer billing data protectioncapability, comprising: storage means for storing a plurality ofconsumer records, each of which includes consumer identificationinformation and partial billing information; means for allowing a salesagent to access only said consumer identification information stored inone of said plurality of consumer records; means for receiving a firstinput from said sales agent indicative that a consumer corresponding tosaid consumer identification information stored in said one of saidplurality of consumer records desires to purchase a product or serviceoffered by said sales agent; means for receiving a second input fromsaid sales agent indicative of a key, wherein said key completes saidpartial billing information stored in said one of said plurality ofconsumer records; and means for processing an order reflective of saidfirst input and billing for said order using said partial billinginformation stored in said one of said plurality of consumer records,and said key.
 48. The system of claim 47, wherein said partial billinginformation stored in said one of said plurality of consumer records isa plurality of digits of a credit card account number belonging to saidconsumer.
 49. The system of claim 48 wherein said key is the remainingdigits of the entire said credit card account number.
 50. The system ofclaim 47 wherein said key includes the ACS code of a credit card. 51.The system of claim 47, wherein said partial billing information storedin each of said plurality of consumer records is a predetermined set ofp digits of a credit card account number.
 52. The system of claim 51,wherein said key is the remaining m digits of said credit card accountnumber, and wherein m+p is equal to the total number of digits in saidcredit card account number.
 53. The system of claim 47, wherein saidpartial billing information stored in each of said plurality of consumerrecords is a predetermined set of p alphanumeric characters of thebilling information of said consumer.
 54. The system of claim 53,wherein said key is the remaining m alphanumeric characters of thebilling information of said consumer, and wherein m+p is equal to thetotal number of alphanumeric characters in the billing information ofsaid consumer.
 55. A telemarketing system having consumer billing dataprotection capability, comprising: storage means for storing a pluralityof consumer records, each of which includes consumer identificationinformation and partial billing information; means for allowing a salesagent to access only said consumer identification information stored inone of said plurality of consumer records; means for receiving a keyfrom said sales agent indicative that a consumer corresponding to saidconsumer identification information stored in said one of said pluralityof consumer records desires to purchase a product or service offered bysaid sales agent, wherein said key completes said partial billinginformation stored in said one of said plurality of consumer records;and means for processing an order for said product or service andbilling for said order using said partial billing information stored insaid one of said plurality of consumer records, and said key.
 56. Thesystem of claim 55 wherein said key includes the ACS code of a creditcard.
 57. The system of claim 55, wherein said partial billinginformation stored in each of said plurality of consumer records is apredetermined set of p alphanumeric characters of the billinginformation of said consumer.
 58. The system of claim 57, wherein saidkey is the remaining m alphanumeric characters of the billinginformation of said consumer, and wherein m+p is equal to the totalnumber of alphanumeric characters in the billing information of saidconsumer.